"He manhandled me in rehearsals from the start, pushing me, whacking my stomach, bending my arms roughly. I thought that was just how it went - how dancers worked with each other," Solo wrote. "But it kept getting worse.

"One day, Maks was trying to put me in a certain position and hit my stomach so hard with his open palm that I had a red handprint there for the rest of the day... [At another rehearsal,] he wanted my head in a specific position. To achieve that, he slapped me across the face. Hard."

Chmerkovskiy has remained relatively quiet in the wake of the accusations, with The Huffington Post reporting that the professional dancer may be considering suing Solo for her comments.

"Maks is one of the nicest guys in the world. This is 100% not true," a source told the website. "At the moment, Maks and ABC are not making any public statements, as they are considering legal options. Not only did Hope not tell the truth in the book, she also signed a contract with the producers of Dancing with the Stars and could be in breach of contract."

An insider close to Solo insisted that the athlete would stick to her story, saying: "Hope is standing behind what she wrote and has no intention of issuing an apology."